Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM OCT. 7, 2023 23 NOTRE DAME PASSING OFFENSE: B- If we're only grading Notre Dame junior tight end Mitchell Evans, then this is an A+. But looking at the entire Irish passing attack as a whole, B- is the best we can do. Evans caught 6 passes for 134 yards. He was a menace. The rest of Notre Dame's pass catchers reeled in 9 receptions for 88 yards. That was due in large part to neither junior Jayden Thomas nor freshman Jaden Greathouse playing in the game. They were both out with hamstring injuries. Graduate student quarterback Sam Hartman completed 15 of 30 passing attempts for 222 yards. He didn't have a touchdown pass. He didn't have an interception either. He still has not thrown one all season. Hartman missed on some throws he normally makes, though. Freshman receiver Rico Flores Jr., for instance, was targeted 7 times but only came away with 2 catches. But in the end, he saved his best for last by completing four passes on Notre Dame's game-winning touchdown drive. That was his A+ stuff. Overall, the Irish's B- stuff was enough to get the job done. NOTRE DAME RUSHING OFFENSE: B+ The final line of 32 attempts for 159 yards and 2 touchdowns deserves an A. But if you take out freshman running back Jeremiyah Love's 34-yard gain on a fake punt, 5.0 yards per carry goes down to 4.4. And if Audric Estimé doesn't rattle off a 30-yard game-winning touchdown when everyone least expected it, he'd have only ran 17 times for 51 yards for an average of 3.0 yards per rush. The reality is, there were many running plays for the Irish offense that were bottled up at or behind the line of scrimmage. Seven of Estimé's 18 at- tempts went for two yards or less. The going was tough on the ground for much of the night. Credit that to a really good Duke defense rising up to the challenge and the Notre Dame offensive line not going above and beyond to create running room. NOTRE DAME PASSING DEFENSE: A There were definitely some moments the Notre Dame passing defense would want back. Duke's first play from scrimmage was a 27-yard comple- tion over the head of sophomore cornerback Ben- jamin Morrison. The Blue Devils had two more passing plays that gained 20 or more yards, and Duke's go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter was a complete breakdown in coverage. The scorer was wide open. But this is a stat line that actually did indeed tell the story of the night; Duke quarterback Riley Leonard only completed 12 of 27 throws for 134 yards with 1 touchdown and 1 interception. The Notre Dame pass rush was alive and well, con- stantly pressuring Leonard, and outside of a hand- ful of coverage lapses the Irish defensive backs were their usual stout selves. NOTRE DAME RUSHING DEFENSE: B Even with a nice pass rush for most of the night, Leonard still got loose on some scrambles. He fin- ished the night credited with 18 rushing attempts for 88 yards. Most of those numbers came on scrambles and extension of plays, so it technically wasn't a Notre Dame running defense problem. That'd fall on the passing defense. That said, everybody in the stadium knew Leonard likes to run. When he's got the ball in his hands, you've got to be prepared for it at all times. He started chewing the Irish defense up a bit on the ground in the second half. It was one of the main reasons Duke was on track to spring the upset and beat Notre Dame. Duke's running backs carried 22 times for 101 yards, meanwhile. A big back breaker was a 34- yard run Jordan Moore scurried to that eventually set up a 1-yard touchdown run for Duke's Jordan Waters. Take away a 33-yarder from Leonard and the 34-yarder from Moore, and Duke's overall line goes from 40 rushes for 189 yards to 38 for 122. Don't get it twisted; Notre Dame played a really good game against the run. It was a couple plays away from being really great. SPECIAL TEAMS: C+ Graduate student kicker Spencer Shrader missed another field goal, this one from 37 yards away, and is now 5 of 10 this season. Senior wide re- ceiver Chris Tyree misplayed a punt and nearly coughed the ball away in his own territory. Sopho- more Bryce McFerson punted below his season average and only logged 38.8 yards per boot. Sophomore offensive lineman Billy Schrauth was flagged for a false start penalty on a field goal attempt which forced Notre Dame to punt in- stead, and there was also a delay of game before a Shrader field goal attempt. That would all amount to a D, but freshman run- ning back Jeremiyah Love's 34-yard run on a direct snap in punt formation brings the grade up to a C+. That's a winning play worthy of a letter grade boost or two. COACHING: C Notre Dame had 12 penalties. Twelve. A dozen. Not a winning number. Most of them were pre- snap penalties, too; false starts, offsides, etc. If the Irish offense was not heroic and Notre Dame lost this game, we'd all be talking about how unpre- pared and undisciplined this team is. This grade would have also been an F. But there is something to be said for keeping the guys' heads up to a point they can go out and win the game in the final minute. REPORT CARD BY TYLER HORKA Freshman Jeremiyah Love's 34-yard run on a fake punt set up Noter Dame's first touchdown of the game. PHOTO BY LARRY BLANKENSHIP